In a recent interview with The Guardian, Alan Moore - who clearly has an extremely high opinion of his own work judging from that piece - has shared his thoughts on anyone over the age of 13 who happens to enjoy reading superhero comic books or the movies that they're based on. He's clearly forgetting that he's talking about the same people who have made the likes of Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman and V For Vendetta the best-selling successes they are, and you can read his thoughts on "emotionally subnormal" fans below.
"I haven't read any superhero comics since I finished with Watchmen. I hate superheroes. I think they're abominations. They don't mean what they used to mean. They were originally in the hands of writers who would actively expand the imagination of their nine- to 13-year-old audience. That was completely what they were meant to do and they were doing it excellently. These days, superhero comics think the audience is certainly not nine to 13, it's nothing to do with them. It's an audience largely of 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-year old men, usually men. Someone came up with the term graphic novel. These readers latched on to it; they were simply interested in a way that could validate their continued love of Green Lantern or Spider-Man without appearing in some way emotionally subnormal. This is a significant rump of the superhero-addicted, mainstream-addicted audience. I don't think the superhero stands for anything good. I think it's a rather alarming sign if we've got audiences of adults going to see the Avengers movie and delighting in concepts and characters meant to entertain the 12-year-old boys of the 1950s."
Kind of like the anti-Stan Lee, isn't he?
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